So we are back from the Big Island of Hawaii... *FINALLY ADDED PICS*

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
...and how beautiful it was. I'll have pics up in a few days. I'm waiting for my domain to replicate to all the DNS servers right now.

Let me tell you, Hawaiians love their uber-riced hondas and lifted Yotas out there. :brokenheart:

We stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and it was magnificient. I went there with high hopes and they exceeded them. I HIGHLY recommend this hotel to anyone. Its on the Kohala Coast about 35 min North of Kona and about 5-10min north of the rest of the resorts on that side of the island.

I even had the chance to take my rental Jeep for alittle offroading near Upolu airport on the north coast. :D



Hawaii pics!
 
L

Lola

Originally posted by: conjur
Coolio!

Did you head to any of the other islands?

No... We didnt even get to do half the stuff we wanted on that island. It was really amazing! that was the first time i got to swim in the ocean too!
The Big Island is great because it is so diverse, its mountains, rainforest, desert... i wanna go back already! The only bad thing is that we got kinda burned the first few days!
 

fonzinator

Senior member
Nov 5, 2002
953
0
0
Sweet!! I want to take my fiance to the Kona coast for our honeymoon. We'd certainly hit up Hapuna beach while we are there. If you don't mind me asking...what kind of vacation package did you get? Did you go the air+hotel route, or separate? Also...what was your length of stay, how much did you pay, and were the amnenities worth it?? I'm thinking condo for us, but I want to consider all options. You can PM me if you don't want to post prices on here. Thanks!!
 

T3C

Diamond Member
Jun 3, 2003
5,324
0
0
sweet, glad to hear you had a good time, i cant wait untill i get a chance to go there!
 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
Originally posted by: fonzinator
Sweet!! I want to take my fiance to the Kona coast for our honeymoon. We'd certainly hit up Hapuna beach while we are there. If you don't mind me asking...what kind of vacation package did you get? Did you go the air+hotel route, or separate? Also...what was your length of stay, how much did you pay, and were the amnenities worth it?? I'm thinking condo for us, but I want to consider all options. You can PM me if you don't want to post prices on here. Thanks!!

we paid $2400 for airfare(from Detroit) and hotel for 6 days/5 nights including all taxes and fees. This was through expedia.com. The hotel was amazingly cheap. We ended up getting upgraded in our room and it was very nice. The food there is very expensive, though. If you like seafood, i suggest the clambake at the Mauna Kea. Its $70/per person for all you can eat seafood including lobster, crab, shrimp, ono, ahi, etc.

Right now Hapuna Prince is offering $180/night rooms, which is a fairly good price.

Gas is insanely expensive on the west side of the island($2.27/gal), however the east side is just very expensive, at $2.07. We drove just under 1000 miles sightseeing and that is what hurts the budget.

The condos i saw for rent were nice, but all too big for what we wanted(2 br/2bath), which means more money.

If you can, get a hotel near a town that has restaurants, or you will be kicking yourself. Hapuna and Mauna Kea are about 3 miles from Kawaihae and 15 miles from Waimea, both small towns with better prices for food. If you do go to any resort restaurants expect to pay through the nose.
 

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
:) Hapuna is a beautiful beach. I hit that place up with my cousins the last time I was down there. I take it that hotel is the one RIGHT THERE on the north end of the beach?

What'd you think of Kona? Everytime I go visit, I trip out at how small it is, yet I've got no qualms walking thru and looking at everything multiple times. I dunno, maybe it's just cuz I wish I still lived there and like to soak in as much as I can whenever I go back to visit.

How about historical sites? Hit any of those up? Volcano? Tell me all! I miss it and want to go back!!! :D:D:D:D
 

Codewiz

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2002
5,758
0
76
The Big Island was my favorite when I visited hawaii. I stayed in Wakiki(sp) beach but we took a day trip to the Big Island and it was so much nicer than the tourist attraction where we stayed.

I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap airfare was for flying between the islands.
 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
Originally posted by: codeyf
:) Hapuna is a beautiful beach. I hit that place up with my cousins the last time I was down there. I take it that hotel is the one RIGHT THERE on the north end of the beach?

What'd you think of Kona? Everytime I go visit, I trip out at how small it is, yet I've got no qualms walking thru and looking at everything multiple times. I dunno, maybe it's just cuz I wish I still lived there and like to soak in as much as I can whenever I go back to visit.

How about historical sites? Hit any of those up? Volcano? Tell me all! I miss it and want to go back!!! :D:D:D:D

Yep, Hapuna Prince is on the North end of the beach, right over the lava flow.

Kona is nice, but way too touristy. I liked Hilo better. We hit the Hilo farmers market and picked up 2-3lbs of papayas and a bunch of bananas for $2.50, a handmade flower leie for $4, and souvenirs for family for around $30.

We hit pretty much all the major historical sites, Hawi, the Place of Refuge, Painted Church, 'akaka falls, rainbow falls, boiling pots, the black beach on the south coast, Kilauea.

I REALLY wanted to go to south point, but the rental car place said no way. :(
 

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
Oh yeah, and us Hawaiians do love our rice-racers. Difference is, in Hawaii, there are a lot more rusted out, mid/late-80's hondas that we think are 2F2F just cuz we threw on some Civic Si rims and a reflective tint!
 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
Originally posted by: codeyf
Oh yeah, and us Hawaiians do love our rice-racers. Difference is, in Hawaii, there are a lot more rusted out, mid/late-80's hondas that we think are 2F2F just cuz we threw on some Civic Si rims and a reflective tint!

you know, i didnt see rust on any cars there, which is alittle shocking coming from michigan. I saw old Jeep CJ7s(which dont survive more than a winter here) in perfect condition. It was crazy.
 

codeyf

Lifer
Sep 6, 2000
11,854
3
81
No on South Point? Why? I've been there before. When my aunt and uncle took me to Painted Church, I was kind of more in to shopping and touristy stuff. So I didn't really "get" it or appreciate it. I definitely want to go again next time I'm down there. Wife and I went to The City Of Refuge tho. Was our favorite part of the visit. I still need to hit up the Black Beaches tho.
 
L

Lola

Originally posted by: codeyf
No on South Point? Why? I've been there before. When my aunt and uncle took me to Painted Church, I was kind of more in to shopping and touristy stuff. So I didn't really "get" it or appreciate it. I definitely want to go again next time I'm down there. Wife and I went to The City Of Refuge tho. Was our favorite part of the visit. I still need to hit up the Black Beaches tho.

The City of Refuge was neat, but we kinda rushed through it because we were so tired out and over heated! The black sand beach was incredable, especially because we got to see the sea turtles!
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Originally posted by: Codewiz
The Big Island was my favorite when I visited hawaii. I stayed in Wakiki(sp) beach but we took a day trip to the Big Island and it was so much nicer than the tourist attraction where we stayed.

I was pleasantly surprised at how cheap airfare was for flying between the islands.

I did the same around Easter time. Went to the south of the Big Island and looked at some of the volcano areas, and went to tbe Mauna Loa macadaemia nut factory. The weather is really bad sometimes, raining horribly :(
Waikiki had the better weather IMO because it was drier.
 

Siddhartha

Lifer
Oct 17, 1999
12,505
3
81
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
...and how beautiful it was. I'll have pics up in a few days. I'm waiting for my domain to replicate to all the DNS servers right now.

Let me tell you, Hawaiians love their uber-riced hondas and lifted Yotas out there. :brokenheart:

We stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and it was magnificient. I went there with high hopes and they exceeded them. I HIGHLY recommend this hotel to anyone. Its on the Kohala Coast about 35 min North of Kona and about 5-10min north of the rest of the resorts on that side of the island.

I even had the chance to take my rental Jeep for alittle offroading near Upolu airport on the north coast. :D

Sounds great, would you consider living there?

 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
...and how beautiful it was. I'll have pics up in a few days. I'm waiting for my domain to replicate to all the DNS servers right now.

Let me tell you, Hawaiians love their uber-riced hondas and lifted Yotas out there. :brokenheart:

We stayed at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel and it was magnificient. I went there with high hopes and they exceeded them. I HIGHLY recommend this hotel to anyone. Its on the Kohala Coast about 35 min North of Kona and about 5-10min north of the rest of the resorts on that side of the island.

I even had the chance to take my rental Jeep for alittle offroading near Upolu airport on the north coast. :D

Sounds great, would you consider living there?

actually, yes. The University of Hawaii is partnered with my college and I am thinking about getting my masters there. It would be nice to experience new things in my life before i settle down and have kids. Housing is fairly well priced outside of Hilo, near Volcano and Kurtistown.

South Point Rd. gets pretty hairy at times, apparently, and they dont want their 4wd vehicles trashed :D.

The weather was beautiful for us. The only time it rains is when you are on the upslope of the mountains. At our resort it drizzled for about 10 min the whole time we were there.
 

SCSIfreek

Diamond Member
Mar 3, 2000
3,216
0
0
:) its great to hear things about Hawaii. I do missed my family in Hawaii and homemade food prepared by my mom. :(

Big Island is a wonderful place to have a vacation but wait til you see Maui, Kauai and Oahu.

--Scsi
 

fonzinator

Senior member
Nov 5, 2002
953
0
0
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Originally posted by: fonzinator
Sweet!! I want to take my fiance to the Kona coast for our honeymoon. We'd certainly hit up Hapuna beach while we are there. If you don't mind me asking...what kind of vacation package did you get? Did you go the air+hotel route, or separate? Also...what was your length of stay, how much did you pay, and were the amnenities worth it?? I'm thinking condo for us, but I want to consider all options. You can PM me if you don't want to post prices on here. Thanks!!

we paid $2400 for airfare(from Detroit) and hotel for 6 days/5 nights including all taxes and fees. This was through expedia.com. The hotel was amazingly cheap. We ended up getting upgraded in our room and it was very nice. The food there is very expensive, though. If you like seafood, i suggest the clambake at the Mauna Kea. Its $70/per person for all you can eat seafood including lobster, crab, shrimp, ono, ahi, etc.

Right now Hapuna Prince is offering $180/night rooms, which is a fairly good price.

Gas is insanely expensive on the west side of the island($2.27/gal), however the east side is just very expensive, at $2.07. We drove just under 1000 miles sightseeing and that is what hurts the budget.

The condos i saw for rent were nice, but all too big for what we wanted(2 br/2bath), which means more money.

If you can, get a hotel near a town that has restaurants, or you will be kicking yourself. Hapuna and Mauna Kea are about 3 miles from Kawaihae and 15 miles from Waimea, both small towns with better prices for food. If you do go to any resort restaurants expect to pay through the nose.
The condo I'm considering is at the Kona Coast Resort. It's unit 10204 (very spacious, 1br/1ba) and goes for $875 a week. I've stayed in a unit at this place many times and have loved it!! But, I am looking to see if there are any good hotel deals out there. Thanks you two for the great report of your trip. I've never heard anyone disappointed from a visit to Hawaii. BTW...you're not missing much from South Point. You drive down there over rough road, stop your car, get out, look around, think to yourself: "I'm at the southern most point in the US", then leave. It's really windy down there - lots of wind power stations. Other than that...nothing worth wasting precious vacation time for! :)
 

slycat

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2001
5,656
0
0
i was in maui for like 4days...erm...it was kinda boring for me.
i stayed at the hyatt which was nice but this island doesn't have much...
i rented a car and drove around but still...nothing much to do...
guess i'm a honolulu kid..
 

iamwiz82

Lifer
Jan 10, 2001
30,772
13
81
try now. this damned control panel doesnt give child folders their parent attributes.